Business of Wrestling: Why It Makes Sense for WWE to Push International Stars

Why does the WWE insist on pushing The Great Khali despite his obvious lack of talent? How can the creative team elevate Alberto Del Rio to the top so fast? 

Why is Jinder Mahal even on the main roster? How come Sin Cara keeps getting opportunities even though he’s a botch machine who failed a wellness test? 

These are questions that most WWE fans have asked at some point or another. But trust me when I say that everything the WWE does, it does for a reason. 

The company is not keeping Khali around because he’s going to wrestle five-star classics, and Mahal isn’t on Smackdown because he’s going to be the WWE’s next big thing. 

These stars stick around the WWE for one major reason: international appeal. 

The first “W” in WWE is something that is often forgotten among us fans here in the United States. It stands for World Wrestling Entertainment. If the WWE’s product were intended to appeal only to fans in this country, then it would be the USWE instead.

But it’s not. The WWE is a global juggernaut, and to be recognized as such, it must appeal to people all over the world, from Scotland to Africa to Japan. 

That’s why you see superstars like Ezekiel Jackson (Guyana), Yoshi Tatsu (Japan), Del Rio (Mexico), Justin Gabriel (South Africa) and Khali (India) in the WWE at all, and it is often why they get pushes. They stand out from a Heath Slater or a JTG. 

It’s the nature of the business to want to appeal to the biggest audience possible, and that’s exactly what the WWE manages to do because it has a very diverse roster that features wrestlers from across the globe. 

When you see Sin Cara skyrocketing up Smackdown as one of its fastest rising baby faces, it’s not just happening for the hell of it. He’s being pushed for a very specific and concrete reason. 

From WWE Corporate, "SmackDown is the most watched program on Syfy among Hispanic viewers."

It’s not a coincidence that Rey Mysterio has been a major force on the Smackdown brand since joining the WWE in 2002, that Del Rio debuted on the blue brand in 2010, that Hunico’s currently working on Friday nights or that Sin Cara was shifted to Smackdown almost immediately after his debut. 

Smackdown is incredibly popular among the Hispanic viewing audience, and being the smart businessman that he is, Vince McMahon is going to put Hispanic superstars on that brand. And he is often going to push them. 

If you don’t particularly care for Hunico or Sin Cara, that doesn’t matter to the WWE. What matters to the WWE is appealing to people of different nationalities and ethnicities, even those right here in the United States. 

Featuring and highlighting superstars such as Epico and Primo or Del Rio is going to draw in Hispanic viewers in America and across the world because everyone loves to watch a “hometown hero” of sorts succeed or even just compete in the No. 1 wrestling organization in the world. 

It’s no different for the WWE’s Hispanic superstars than it is for superstars of different nationalities. 

While we can complain about The Great Khali’s lack of wrestling ability all day, there is logic behind keeping him in the WWE, behind having him compete for the World Heavyweight Championship at Elimination Chamber and behind having him wrestle at WrestleMania. 

In May 2011, the WWE expanded its worldwide impact to India when it opened up a new office in Mumbai, and Khali is a bonafide superstar in his home country. The wrestling fans there don’t care about his ability (or lack thereof) as a wrestler. 

Khali is on the same level there as Hulk Hogan or “Stone Cold” Steve Austin is here, and whether we want to see him wrestle and compete for championships or not, the WWE is making the smart business decision by at least keeping him around the roster. 

In a perfect world, every WWE superstar would be able to put on phenomenal matches night in and night out and to bring a ton of international appeal with them, but that’s just not always going to be the case. 

You will have stars who can do both, sure. But for the most part, you’ll have your guys who appeal to fans because of their wrestling ability and then the guys who appeal to fans because of where they’re from. 

And guess what? The WWE wouldn’t be what it is today if it wasn’t for both.

Note: As part of the new WWE blog, I'll be asking all of the B/R wrestling readers for questions for a new mailbag that I will post on Fridays. It will be a slideshow featuring 10-20 questions and answers on a wide range of topics. You can submit questions either through Formspring or Twitter, and the best ones will be answered in the B/R mailbag.